Rich Sweethearts
by BlueSaints
Summary: Polo sweats and Hermes blankets, "Oh, it's you." Set a year before the show starts with a new character thrown into the mix.
1. Day One

**Hello, I wrote this a while ago and found it still as interesting as the first time I had the idea. There's too little OC stories in this area in general, so I made my own. My OC is meant to be Young-do's platonic soul mate. Goodness knows how troubled the young man is, he needs help.**

 **I'm totally into the part of Young-do that jokes around with his circle of friends, not the arrogant bad-ass that appears every time he saw Tan, so here's me expanding a character as per usual.**

 **I'm probably late to the trend but hopefully some would still find the story and read it. Please leave me a comment if you do, it would mean the world to me.**

 **\+ please note that Korean names begin with the surname, so it's always surname firstname for Korean names and normal firstname surname for foreign names.**

 **\+ set in the year before the show begins (first year of high school in Korean standards) - there's just so many secret glances by the time the show starts.**

* * *

She was the top of the scale, the cress of a note, a prodigy worthy of her family name. If only she had waited just two more seconds, she would have gone to get ice-cream to celebrate yet again another year of ranking first, and then the plan was to start working on her college application with Juilliard in mind. If only she had stopped herself from wanting to boast the fact that she was the best graduate of her performing arts middle school, she would still be in the same school today and not buying a boring, international-standardized school uniform on the last week of summer break.

It took her three years to realize how much she was despised. Picking up the rest of her school books from her old locker had been a mix of regret and pity, especially hearing people around her talking about how she deserved this, how she deserved her clear path of bright future destroyed. Mom had insisted that she could continue after the bone reconstruction, after therapy, but she was wrong. It didn't and might never feel the same again. Tremor still ran through her nerves in the most unexpected times, and it made her upset more than she would admit.

Cracking her knuckles out of habit, she had to remind herself that she shouldn't. It hurts. Her eyes traveled to her own reflection. Look at the mirror instead, do you like what you see? Whoever chose the color of the school uniform must be a boring old man. White shirt, beige skirt, and navy blue blazer with white detailing. She hated the crisscross tie, would rather have the regular tie even if the clearly meant-for-boys size of it would make her look masculine. Or forgo it all together and replace it with a statement necklace, but then again she could afford asking them to make a string out of the material that she could tie into a bow. She really wanted to have a strong game on her first day of school. Her eyes moved to look at her right side on the mirror. Tch.

With the amount of tears shed on this fine day in a private tailor boutique in downtown Gangnam, one would think Park Jung-soo lost a family member. A pet, maybe. A cute little puppy, most likely. Jung-soo was admittedly a very cute oversized baby whose superpower was to bring her back from her daydream, no matter how far she had gone. Apparently, trying out new uniform made him weep like a baby whale.

"Jung-soo-ssi, stop weeping." Rummaging through the handbag hung by the mirror, she then shoved a handkerchief at the seventeen-year-old boy who quickly caught onto the piece of cloth and dabbed on his eyes almost furiously. Never underestimate the power of a boy's tears. Sa-ra was ever so grateful that the boutique was currently empty sans for themselves.

"My Sa-ra is so grown up, look at her!" He started muttering to himself schemes of Jeguk brats and how they should treat his friend like how he treated her. She had long since stopped batting an eyelash at his antics.

"Can I just have my name sewn instead of having it on a tag?" Sa-ra asked, turning to the seamstress. Although useful to put on the desk when needed, a pin made her cautious of ripping off seams. She had a few clothing pieces at home that looked like its heart had popped out. The semantics wasn't lost on her.

"No, the custom is to have it on a tag." The lady had the grace to look bashful when Jung-soo made a face at her straightforward, no nonsense reply.

"Then can you sew my name on the inside, nonetheless? I like having my name on my stuff," she admitted rather bluntly, handing the navy blue blazer back. She understood the need to have uniform, that with the gap-diminishing means in between the students, but not necessarily why it made a huge leap from other schools' much simpler, less fuss and quality uniform. Dad would love seeing this color on her, it was the original set of colors he was going to go for his school's uniform. Dad might even be secretly pleased that she did end up going to Jeguk after all. He wanted her to have 'the right connections' and all that jazz. "Have you got all the measurements you need?"

"De, you can pick it up by tomorrow. Kamsahamida." The seamstress bowed as the two friends walked out arm in arm, eyes wandering through the shops lining the busy street. Jung-soo eyed a few fancy cars littering the parking lot and named out a few he could recognize. They decided to descend upon a cafe that looked most frequented, meaning that the food must be good or that the barristers were good-looking. They hoped for a little bit of both.

"Sa-ra-ya, do you really have to go?" was Jung-soo's first question after they took a seat by one of the less-busy corners. There were parents making use of the last week of holiday by taking out their chaotic offsprings and releasing them onto the crowds.

Said girl peeked through a curtain of dark hair, her fringe obscuring the view of her pleading friend. Closing the Jeguk school handbook, she hummed in confirmation. "It's not like I have a say with it," she defended herself, crossing arms on her chest. She watched as he scooted his seat closer to hers, gaze unwavering and docile.

"But your Mom runs the school, surely she can pull some strings," he reasoned, shaking his head and making the tuft on his head move along. "I heard Jeguk's a school where you don't make real friends anyway." He looked from side to side watching the food on other tables and the customers' reactions. The crowd was thankfully starting to die down since it was just after lunch time.

Sa-ra turned sideways to look at him properly. "Park Jung-soo, what's the matter with you? You didn't make a fuss when I announced it and now you're treating me like a criminal. Wae, what is it?"

Jung-soo jutted his lower lip. "We've gone to the same school since we were in kindergarten," he stated as a matter-of-fact.

"And?"

"I don't like the idea of you moving away."

"It's just Jeguk, you can always come pick me up from school or something," or not, she mused. Any car from his family's garage would make for a flashy display that she might not need in her lifetime. His father rising to be a famous movie director in the past six years might have something to do with how impetuous the family spending was.

"Chinca? I can do that?" his face lit up.

"Maybe not," she changed her mind.

"Sa-ra-ya," Jung-soo held the upper half of her arm, slightly shaking it. An arm which was tired from picking up the violin again after a whole summer break without it. Mom said her left hand should still be able to press on the strings alright, but she wasn't going back to the performing arts school, so why even bother with the instruments she didn't like in the first place? "I have done my research on Jeguk," he added when he noticed his friend was in no mood to entertain him today.

"Do they have great music club?"

He swatted her arm. "That's not important once you're there."

"Then what is?"

"The caste system."

"Hinduism?"

"Ani, the money system." He thought for a moment.

She looked back down at the handbook sitting on her lap. "Didn't see a mention of that in the handbook."

He rolled his eyes, snatching the handbook and swatting it at the back of her head. "Pay attention," his tone grew ominous, "There are four tiers: The highest are the tycoon inheritors, second is for shareholders, third is children of parents with respectable jobs-"

"And let me guess," she cut him off. "The rest are peasants?"

Jung-soo nodded vigorously.

She patted his tufted hair with a smile. "You don't need to worry then, I'm the cherry on top."

"Ya, Kwon Sa-ra, doesn't mean they can't chew you!"

* * *

Jeguk high school was exactly as advertised: Tall, intimidating building with mostly glass walls and streamlined design, well-mowed green lawns and what looked like mini-gardens, and the snobby children that resided within. In Saerang School of Performing Arts she was used to the concept of being judged by her talent, but that seemed irrelevant here. On the walk from the car to the main entrance she already heard snippets of a Tuscan holiday and Malibu sunburn, a contrast to her time spent in her vacation house on the countryside – a gift from her father for simply being born. Jung-soo single-handedly took charge of her 'fun vacation' as a nanny, house keeper, and entertainer. She rated him seven and a half stars out of ten.

One step into the hallway and she let out a sigh; she thought she had escaped the concept of having to walk a marathon from class to class. They treated their students like athletes here too, apparently – it takes a good lengthy walk just to reach the main campus, and they had several buildings to walk back and forth from. Only a handful were in the same boat as she was, a newcomer to Jeguk high, new applicant for high school and they were all baffled with how much they had to get used to within the first week. The rest had a sense of familiarity about them; the way they walked around campus like they owned the place, which now that she thought of herself, maybe one of them was the child of the owner. Contrary to the popular belief, not all the children of top investors meet up every Sunday afternoon to attend a tennis club meeting. But the top tier schools do compete on tooth and nail with each other, hence the social introductions.

With measured steps, she walked the way she did in her previous school, consciously baring and challenging the stares of the other students, seniors or not. She chose this particular pair of heels for a specific reason: she liked the way it click-clacks on marble and how she was in control of it instead of the other way around. New school didn't have to make her throw away her musical tendencies. Old habits die hard.

Sa-ra was counting fours when she felt a hand snaking on her shoulders. Surprised, she tilted her head to her left and hissed when she saw the culprit and tried to pry it off. "Are you going to welcome me to Jeguk?" she sneered.

Instead of letting her go, the second-year brought her closer, their sides scrunching together. "I'm surprised Park Jung-soo didn't transfer to Jeguk as well, your lackey isn't as loyal as you think," he lowered his voice as if telling a forbidden secret. She had been told numerous times of how gorgeous the boy beside her was, how polished and royal he looked, and she had had previous friendships forged on insincerity and attention-seeking means. Needless to say, she wasn't pleased to have any sort of affiliation with him.

"You said you'd kill him if he transfers."

"Oh, I would." He stopped, stepped forward, and faced her. The two looked nothing alike even when the thunderous expression on their faces were frighteningly similar: eyes narrowed, mouth set into an ugly frown and arms crossed over their chests. The height difference was straightened out with the heels she wore, but it was still ironic that eight years of living under the same roof resulted in nothing more than similar habits and experiences; They still resented each other's guts to the bits.

The onlookers were intrigued: Seniors don't bother themselves with affairs of their juniors. They had their own agenda to look after, and it was a myriad of luck to see any kind of drama on the first day of school, but here they were: second-year Jeremy Lim facing a freshmeat. They couldn't identify who pretty girl was since she must be a newcomer to Jeguk. They didn't know Jeremy-sunbae had a flame.

So the next action left them baffled. The girl forcefully slammed a piece of paper to Jeremy's chest, eyebrows raised in a challenging manner. The second-year took the paper, studied it, and tilted his head to the side – a motion for her to follow. Jeremy Lim and Kwon Sa-ra left a gushing and hushing crowd hot on their tracks.

Sa-ra and Jeremy stopped in front of a class marked as 108 and he turned to face her, switching into his mother tongue seamlessly. "Mei mei, cause no trouble and I won't have to interfere, hao ba?" His sharp cheekbones lifted with an amicable smile and he raised his hand to reach the top of her head, petting it in a somewhat affable fashion.

The way he spoke Mandarin to her always made her feel belittled, particularly for the higher pitch he used and the spelling-out fashion he did it in "You already have," she hissed in the same language, one that she learned by the age of five when she stumbled upon a picture book with funny scrawls that isn't Hangeul. Sa-ra reverted her eyes, noticing the spectacle they'd made of themselves and wondered what kind of image her stepbrother conjured here, but then again he had been to Jeguk since middle school. "I'm still not admitting who you are to me."

"I don't think you'll need to. There's this thing called the internet."

"And you think news of my mom and your dad from eight years ago would pop up? I don't think so." She was well aware of the information her name could give, and it wasn't at all anything to be worried about. She swiveled around and walked into the classroom.

"You'll be surprised by their persistence," he called out behind her.

* * *

It was funny how everyone tried to one up the other when it came to the introductions. They didn't know each other yet; they hadn't mapped off the caste system completely since there would be new additions other than those who went to Jeguk middle school. She knew this game well, and she had observed from the sidelines when people play since she didn't have to in Saerang.

"Kwon Sa-ra."

Her head snapped up from her blank notebook and she looked at her homeroom teacher. "Ye, Seosaengnim?"

The homeroom teacher made a 'go on' gesture. Oh, right. She drifted off when they were at Han and now they've reached Kwon. Sighing internally, she decided to make her position clear, hopefully once and for all. Sa-ra did have a tendency to be ignorant and a sucker for peace – purely out of laziness. Unless provoked, of course. No tiger would sit still after being provoked.

She took a deep breath and stood up, prepared to say what Jung-soo had come up with. Or at least, he came up with the first half. She turned back to the teacher after she finished and couldn't help the sly smile that formed when she heard whispers of recognition and realization. She had two pair of parents to prepare her for this hell called high school.

* * *

 **Leave me your thoughts on the intro!**


	2. Week One

**Just to make things clear: Jeremy is Sa-ra's stepbrother who is a year older and had been in Jeguk for a while. Yes he is Chinese and Sa-ra is Korean. Here Sa-ra is a first-year as with Young-do, Rae, Bo-na, etc. Jeremy is a second-year, like Hyo-shin. Everyone in Jeguk is screwed up in one way or another, and I mean** ** _everyone._**

There were very few instances in his life where he was given the right to take control of the situation. Even his _life,_ he has no control over. Lee Hyo-shin was a name burdened on his shoulders, it came with the crippling expectations from a long line of high-point jobbed family members and the disappointments that followed closely behind every time he moved his eyes somewhere else. It had been especially soul-sucking after he managed to epically fail the one attempt he wanted to go right, because they didn't even bother to ask _why_. _Just two more years,_ he sighed to himself.

His phone vibrated in his pocket and he pulled it out, a smile ghosted his face when he saw who the message was from. Kim Tan.

 _How's your week? Mine bombed._

"Hi, stranger." His head whipped to see a first-year walking down the steps of stairs, slinging her handbag higher on her shoulder and pulling long strands of obsidian hair back to its place. Kwon Sa-ra was certainly a girl his mother would approve him befriending for future means, but not if she was going to be a distraction from his studies. Hyo-shin didn't mind her nagging either since it was a habitual occurrence to have your friend's younger sister nagging you. "I wanted to finish my assignment before lunch so now I'm late. Walk me to the cafeteria?" Without waiting for a response, she took a hold of his left sleeve and basically forced him to eat. It roused him out of the catatonic state he placed himself in when he was suffering from nausea from his pre-scripted meds. Yet another downside of his failed attempt: medicine side-effects suck. He wasn't sure he was going to be able to stomach his lunch.

"Where's Jeremy?"

"Definitely nowhere in miles from me," she answered brusquely.

His lips quirked. What a typical answer from a loving stepsister. Hyo-shin had long suspected Sa-ra was sensitive of other people's feelings, could somehow always tell when he was feeling battered even when the only meetings they had were the ones when he was visiting the Lim household to hang out and before Jeremy shoved his 'annoying little sister' out of the room. And even those times were far and in between with the demands his mother made to study harder than the whole of Korean student body. "How's your first week?" He took in her clean appearance: the bow of her tie perfectly pressed and straight, wrinkles missing from her shirt, skirts swishing from the confidence she boosted in her steps. He quietly sighed in relief that nobody had bothered her.

She lightly scoffed. "Tiring."

"Made any friends?"

"All the wrong ones. They're asking how I knew Jeremy- _sunbae._ " She rolled her eyes. "I bet they're going to start asking me how I know _you_ now." She grinned and he realized that as they were marching down the hallway to the cafeteria, people were pointing and probably wondering who Kwon Sa-ra really was to know so many upperclassmen when she was just entering the Jeguk social scene. Her being in the top tier of the caste system eased him a little that at least she wouldn't be bothered for that particular reason. Jeremy told him she wasn't going to admit that she had a Chinese business magnate as a stepfather, but even then her own biological father who gifted her the Kwon name had enough fortune to run a country.

"They won't," he assured her. Sa-ra's head whipped around to face him with a pout. He could by now write a script about where this was going to end. They've had this conversation repeatedly before that he could probably write her off as his _dongsaeng_ and run with it.

"But why not?" She tapped his cheek. "You're handsome, Hyo-shin- _sunbae._ Never let anyone tell you otherwise." She had even told him once that if ever he needed a stand in for a fake girlfriend, she would be a willing candidate because she was pretty. _Sure,_ then he'd probably be six feet under the day after because there was no way Jeremy would let him walk away with _that_.

There was a glint in his eyes. _Why is she calling me that?_ " We're close enough for you to call me something else, don't you think?" He tapped his chin.

She shook her head. " _Sun-bae-nim,_ " she spelled out. "Anyway, don't change the subject. Believe me, you're my favorite!" He couldn't hold in the smile when she pinched his cheeks. "Smile! Sa-ra is here."

" _Araso, araso_ , stop it. You're making me blush." He grabbed her hands, minding the pressure on her left one when he detected an involuntary flinch on the younger girl's face.

His smile sobered. It was a cruel thought, but if only he had her luck. It was truly unfortunate that his inheritance needed only a brain to work, and a brain couldn't fail unless his whole being did. Maybe it was the expression on his face, but Sa-ra's grin slipped off, turning into a stern frown. _She must be a mind reader in her previous life._

"Does it still hurt?" He spoke before she could reprimand him.

She snatched her left hand away. "Sometimes," she mumbled. It took only a millisecond and her unbothered mask had slid on again, a hybrid between a smile and question, making her look like she was perpetually waking up from a daydream. "People had been telling me about this prick." The subject change was entirely welcomed.

Sa-ra guessed that the girls in her class had actually liked her, because they were warning her of things _not_ to do. Like wearing the same statement clothing article twice unless she was going to make it her thing, or sit on certain tables in the cafeteria, or to meddle with businesses that were not her own.

"What prick?"

"One that picks off the social welfare students..." her voice drifted off as if she wasn't sure if talking about it was a good idea now that they were entering the lunch line. She thanked Hyo-shin when he handed her a tray and stayed behind him on the line. "Why do you think he did it?"

Hyo-shin realized of whom she was talking about. It was a childish tradition adopted by a certain heir of a hotelier after his supposed best friend left for the States unceremoniously. It did nothing but make a statement of how other people were beneath the dirt on their shoes. He turned to look at her seriously. "Don't interfere."

"I haven't even seen him, _I think_." She shrugged. The girls she sat with for lunch didn't like eating and watching bullies at the same time, so they'd picked a table further away from the main entertainment. Sa-ra was grateful; she might not want to get her hands dirty, but that didn't mean she could stand the sight of it. "You know how I am anyway; you think I would interfere?"

He weighed the knowledge he knew of his junior as he piled his plate high with food. And then he weighed what the knew of the bully. "No, but you're too pretty to not be noticed." He winked at her and inwardly laughed when Sa-ra's cheeks flushed and she hit his forearm. The blazer from the winter uniform allowed the action to not actually hurt.

As if to strengthen his point, another first-year approached them from the side of the line, a camera in hand. Jo Myung-soo had made a beeline for something that caught his eye, he was sure. The first-year was nefarious for being a deadweight, good-for-nothing kid, partying all night and taking pictures all day, a contender for the bottom of the class ranking.

" _Ya,_ _Sunbae,_ is this your girlfriend?" Myung-soo asked Hyo-shin crudely. From the looks of it, he was most likely suffering a mild hangover since his bluntness didn't usually go as far as saying to a complete stranger, "Pretty girl, look here!" and snapping a picture of Sa-ra looking at him oddly.

"No, she isn't. Sa-ra, this is-"

"Star of Jeguk High, Jo Myung-soo. You're _really_ pretty," he cut Hyo-shin off, grinning like a madman and extending his right hand for Sa-ra to shake. Hyo-shin hid a laugh at his forward attitude.

Sa-ra glanced at Hyo-shin with uncertainty. He sent her a tight smile, a sign that this was nothing dangerous. _Just go with it,_ it said. She seemed to come to a positive deduction because she took the offered hand. "Kwon Sa-ra."

Myung-soo was about to reply when a loud bang came from the entrance of the cafeteria. Activities of food piling, eating, and chatting died down, heads turning to see where and what the commotion was. Hyo-shin looked down at his tray instead, then at Sa-ra's, measuring the nutrition content. _There's nothing new to see anyway._ If anything, the fact that nobody - staff or students, ever stood up to Choi Young-do to stop his actions lay heavy on his shoulders. He was supposed to be a law enforcer someday, _if he survived this,_ and yet he never felt like it here. Shouldn't someone who would attain such a job have that quality in the first place? He was inadequate. He would _always_ be inadequate. But at least he did feel like shielding his friend's little sister from seeing the mean doings of their world.

Sa-ra was completely absorbed with the view she was unfamiliar with. Myung Soo the odd photographer with his extremely expensive camera was shoved to the corner of her thoughts when a boy with a pair of lackeys strode in with the same manner people who own the school might. One of his lackeys was dragging another boy through the back of his shirt, shoving the victim down to a chair, making it scrape unpleasantly on the floor. The main bully looked to the side, _her_ side of the cafeteria and she realized that the other lackey was approaching the lunch line and snatched a tray from a random boy standing at the end of the line. _How uncouth._ The person they took without a permission from didn't even put up a fight for the food he had paid for.

But she understood what was happening. The victim, a first-year from her homeroom, was sitting on _the_ table her girlfriends had warned her about, the very one they tried to avoid seeing. The stolen tray with various food littered on it was slammed down in front of him, and the rest of their actions were textbook bullying. She had seen the victim boy before, and deduced that he was _indeed_ at the bottom of the tier. He walked without a certain swag of confidence, and the fact that his shoes and bag were scuffed didn't help the matter. The higher tier kids were shiny dolls with the perfect skin, hair, and make up that came from not having to work a single day in their lives. It was at this very moment she regretted coming to Jeguk.

Jung-soo was right, and she would be damned to admit that defeat to him. She itched to just grab her phone and talk to him about this… _guilt_ she was unwilling to suffer. Her form of demeaning people in Saerang had been through her talent-boasting, striking people down as she stroke her violin strings and fought strongly for the highest rank in her year. She slept well at night knowing she did it through a 'kill them with kindness' method and not the physical or verbal assault.

There was gunk on the boy's white shirt now. What used to be a neat arrangement of food on the tray had turned into a vague memory. She frowned. Did they never think that with how hard it was to get into Jeguk, having a 'nobody' admitted meant that they must've been something special? The degraded boy might just be the prodigious genius amongst them.

Sa-ra watched the leader of the bullies, noting that yes, she had actually seen him before in class. From the way he sat she could confirm what her new friends said about him, the confidence of a successor. A hotelier, was it? She wasn't sure, her brain had the tendency to erase unimportant information. He was undoubtedly handsome, if only he could actually smile without the oozing superiority that made her want to strangle someone. His countenance was just so… aggressive, especially with the way his prominent eyebrows were often raised, he looked like he was about to yell across the room any time. No wonder the boy sitting before him cowered under his gaze and did whatever he said.

"Choi Young-do," Hyo-shin told her with a tone that could only be described as dog-tired. He had seen this one too many times. "The Prick."


	3. Week Two

**If there was something I learned about Yoon Chan-young from the show, it was that he is a great confidante like his father, and very much a friend everyone needed. I wondered how he survived the bullying, he said he was alone but I'm sure Bo-na had a hand in it, and his grades, and maybe something/someone else?**

Sa-ra was indefinitely struggling.

Unused to the amount of non-liberal arts subjects she was supposed to take, the stress of adapting into a normal academic school was mounting. It used to be 60% participation, 20% performance, 10% classwork, and 10% tests, but now it felt like 70% classwork and 30% tests. Her head felt as if it had been fried crisp that she asked for a giant calendar by the end of the first week. She had then transferred all the syllabus in different colors and decided to request for an academic counselor to watch over her studies. It was her counselor that paired her with a classmate he deemed 'stellar'.

One problem, though. Sa-ra's lunch-mates disapproved the student.

The fact that her future was secure even if she sat alone at lunch for the rest of her high school career didn't mean that she would ever take up the option, if she could help it. Once Sa-ra told them of the counselor's decision, they had been a dear and asked their benefactor parents to get a look into the school database and look him up. Yoon Chan-young. Status: Social Welfare Student. Her friends' verdict: Social Disaster.

But her counselor was right, his school career had been brilliant; competitions and awards flooded his résumé, but it wasn't until his father was promoted into the position of Jeguk President's Secretary did he get a place in Jeguk High. Such was the system of their school, or even their world, for that matter.

The first class ranking was going to be posted in two weeks 'time after the first test week of the year had been graded, and she intended to shock her head now to prepare if she wanted to start at the top half – where her mother expected her to be. Having a mother who ran a school has its perks, like giving out achievable academic goals, though that doesn't apply on other aspects of her life. Her lovely stepbrother didn't want to have anything to do with it even when he was constantly in the top ten of his year, which was most likely Hyo-shin- _sunbae_ 's wonderful influence. Yet another reason to strive higher.

Now, Yoon Chan-young. "What do I think of you?" she muttered to herself, watching said boy helping himself to the food in the cafeteria. She frowned. _The dots failed to connect themselves_.

For one, the boy was sufficiently polished: His shoes were clean, his uniform was nicely ironed and precisely pressed on all the right places. Maybe it should've been expected. With the way Jeguk's young president Kim Won was dressed, there was no way he would let his secretary settle for anything less. In Sa-ra's eyes, a secretary was a high-paying job, because her father's was living comfortably in a condo in the pricy part of Gangnam. And let's be honest, having only one teenage boy to feed meant that they could trade the designer handbags for organic food and high-quality linen. Mr. Yoon must be one smart man. And loving, too, if the smile on Yoon Chan-young's face was any indication. The boy was almost too disgustingly _smiley_ to exist in their world.

"What's your diet today?"

Sa-ra's observation were interrupted by a chirped question. Lee Bo-na, heiress of Mega Entertainment. It only made sense that Bo-na would be the one to recognize her past accomplishments, because it was her father's agency that offered her a guaranteed huge career in the entertainment industry a few months prior. Sa-ra's mom had to send him a set of _Bulgari_ cufflinks as a polite 'no, thank you' and sadly now Sa-ra would never know what could have been. But Bo-na came up to her after the first-day introduction and outright said that she 'chose' to have her back, that a newcomer should feel lucky that an old player of Jeguk social scene would herd them. Sa-ra admired her naivety and no-bullshit attitude; it was a gem in the circle of society where nannies, bodyguards, and chauffeurs were the true parents and the true parents have only half an hour to see their kids every day. And although she didn't need to be guided through her high school career, having a group of girls to fall back to was really nice. They've created a girl group in SNS where shopping catalogues painted their discussion more than an actual conversation.

"Why don't you tell me, hmm? You _sabotaged_ it, after all."

Bo-na masterfully pouted and waved a hand. "You've been eating a lot of carbo last week. I know it's energy for studying but this is better for you." She pointed at her plate. "Dragon fruit, kiwi, strawberry, blueberry, bananas, granola and a sprinkle of chia seeds. Very good for your digestive system."

Sa-ra hadn't felt this looked-after since Jung Soo was her acting personal butler. Bo-na had been overseeing her lunch menu since Monday much like Jung Soo did when they were in Saerang, and it made her wonder if she does this to other people around her too, because so far and to her knowledge only her and Kang Ye-sol had fallen victim to this behavior. "I don't want to spend the next period in the restroom."

"Ya, Sa-ra- _ya_ , I'm doing this for you. See, Ye-sol isn't protesting." She pointed at said girl, who sent a weak shrug. _She wasn't enjoying this, either._

"What are we having tomorrow then, Princess?"

Bo-na didn't seem at all bothered by the nickname. "Sushi." She smiled cutely.

 _Huh,_ she had no objections to that. "I want Salmon Mentai, please."

"Okay," she chirped in agreement.

Sa-ra had wondered how someone like Lee Bo-na could be in friendly terms with the biggest bully in school until she heard the princess talking about the lowest-tier students like it left a bitter taste in her mouth. Social conditioning and peer pressure to ignore their existence Sa-ra understood, but to refuse a smart boy's help because of his social standing was going overboard. It was equivalent to asking specifically for a tutor who had a wealthy background, which wasn't an impossible scenario, but highly unlikely.

Then it occurred to her. _Of course it was Yoon Chan-young._ No higher-tier students would be willing to let a counselor tell them what to do, even if it was to tutor a first-tier kid. The competition in these schools was always silent, but quite deadly since their parents would be the ones to have the liberty over bragging their children's rankings, and nothing beats children's achievements in their society. Her collection of trophies was quite a feat and merely thinking about it sent a jolt of discomfort. It wasn't growing anytime soon, or ever, and talks of Juilliard and Harvard would be classified as a forbidden topic now.

"I have to do it." Sa-ra announced to her table. She had to give her two sets of parents something new to brag about; she couldn't let Jeremy take all the burden no matter how much she would enjoy the look on his face because of it. It wouldn't be fair on the both of them.

"Do what?" Ye-sol asked, twirling a strand of her hair, a nervous habit Sa-ra noticed. Ye-sol was still wary around her, which was understandable. They were both new to Jeguk, both under the wings of Bo-na, and yet Sa-ra acclimated and seemed to find her place and voice much faster, thanks to Jeremy and Hyo-shin- _sunbae._ She could see how it might intimidate the others.

"Take the tutoring offer."

"No," Bo-na shot up, sitting straighter. "You can't," she hissed, eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Give me a solid rebuff," Sa-ra challenged back.

It came in under three seconds. "Choi Young-do is going on a bender around the social welfare kids, he's picking on the _obvious_ ones at the moment," which translated to _the ones that looked the part,_ "but he can and will access the database once he ran out. Once he reached Yoon Chan-young, I don't want you to be in the way because making a deal with Choi Young-do is like making a deal with the devil."

If Sa-ra ever had doubts about Bo-na's logical intelligence, they were slowly erasing themselves right this moment. She had never heard the princess talking in such long sentences before because she never needed to; her shrill threatening tone and pretty face always made people do whatever at her beck and call. But this time Lee Bo-na actually controlled her voice, and sounded as serious as her counselor.

"Not even _you_ can make him back off." Bo-na's confidence was silently hurting Sa-ra's pride. "Or me, not without a very good reason anyway. And I'm not fighting this for you," she warned.

"What makes you so sure I can't?"

Bo-na gave a deadpan stare. "I have known him since we were children." She cut her off before she could argue. "And even if Yoon Chan-young can stand up for himself and hit back, Young-do will sue him. What do you think will happen next?"

"I can give him two extra lawyers…?" By this point Sa-ra knew she herself was bluffing. Bo-na gave solid points, she had to admit. She could very well have an outside tutor called in, but taking Yoon Chan-young was a 'kill 'em with kindness' method of messing with the bully, which was totally her style. If there was one quality about herself that she liked, it was her silently rebelling ways, ones where she didn't have to bother the people around her. So no, she would never ask Bo-na to persuade the bully anyway. They didn't know each other well enough for that. Yet. And it _had_ to be a _yet_ because this was a girl she could benefit befriending, one whose loyalty wasn't swayed by her naivety, because Sa-ra figured two sentences ago that Bo-na was on Choi Young-do's side even when he was clearly in the wrong.

Bo-na glared daggers at her, but didn't bother to reply.

"Is it my turn now?" Sa-ra asked. At her opponent's nod, she tried. "You forgot to consider one factor."

"What?"

"My intelligence." She took a bite of the kiwi, her face scrunching up at the overbearing sourness. "I'll only need his help for the first test week, so if it turns out I can do well on my own, by the time Choi Young-do finds him I'm out of his life anyway."

Bo-na had an incredibly expressive face, the muscles seemingly failing to let her have a guile, because Sa-ra could literally see the cogs turning in her head. "Okay," she finally said. "You can take the offer."

Sa-ra smiled, turning to look at the other girl sitting on their table.

"Just be careful, you don't know what kind of person Yoon Chan-young is," Ye-sol gave her two cents.

"That's what I'm going to find out. Thank you girls." Sa-ra beamed and stood up from her seat to approach the topic of their argument. All the boys on the table turned their heads to look at her. A variety of tiers, since there would _always_ be people who didn't mind who they talked to. Sympathizers would be a fitting term. She turned to one particular boy who smiled, albeit a little reluctantly. "Yoon Chan-young, counselor Nam must've told you about me." She minded the confidence she exuded, _she had to always be on top_ , extending a hand for him to shake. "Kwon Sa-ra."

Recognition filled his eyes then, and he took her offer with a friendly smile. "Hello."

"You're in tennis elective, right?" At his nod, she continued with a smile, "Great, me too. Don't worry, I'm sure I can come up with a good deal for you."


	4. Week Three

**It's not that long anymore until Sa-ra is interacting Young-do, face to face and talking. I like paced developments instead of the rushed one, especially since from the interactions in the show it's clear that this group of school 'friends' know _of_ each other but not _actually_ each other unless under special circumstances. Question: if Rachel is inheriting her mom's RS international, what does her dad do and where will the business go? And at this point Rachel's parents are still together.**

 **I'm also confused when it comes to the schooling system. It seemed that Jeguk High went for the American syllabus (there was SATs requirement and all) but there were only three years of high school in Korea. So I'll go with my own experience (3 years of high school) and base the subjects taken on that.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Sa-ra wanted out. She despised it with a full passion because why wouldn't she? A musical prodigy forced into the life of a regular high schooler with no particular path to her supposedly bright future. Karma bit her in the butt area. When she was still constantly carrying a violin case on her back she wanted to lug it down the street and have a car ran over it, now she was in a regular school and she wanted to burn all her books and be done with it. _What was wrong with me?_

Grunts and thunks reverberated through the walls in the court. Garbed in a great fit of tennis apparel, she was de-stressing in her preferred sport. With heart pounding in her chest she swiftly bounced from her right foot to the left, vigorously hitting the ball whenever it came her way. She could tell her mixed double partner was slightly alarmed by her confrontational stances. Good. The celebrity son had talked all over her since they were introduced, and it pissed her off. Sa-ra understood that his father was making an international début this year and that was cool, but he didn't have to repeat it in several different sentences on three different hallways.

After her team won the third set, the vexation weighing her chest receded. "Good game." She shook hands with her opponents.

"You have a mean swing," one of them said in a weary drawl. Yoo Rae.

Sa-ra might need Bo-na to point out the names of other students, but not when it came to Yoo Rae. Sa-ra wasn't the most active member of the élite sports club downtown, but she had met enough people from parties and galas to call a good circle of friends. Rae was one that fell on her lap out of the blue as she actually approached her first, as an audience to Sa-ra's performance within the walls of the concert hall of Seoul Arts Center in _Seocho sam-dong._ Rae had to pay a handsome sum of money for Saerang's charity concert and brought a pretty bouquet to congratulate Sa-ra's successful recital. Rae had said that it wasn't Sa-ra's first performance that she'd seen, and they had hit it off on the right foot. Their intentional meetings didn't happen as often as they might've liked with how prioritized Sa-ra's music education was, but they had formed a camaraderie to fill in the gaps each might have in their busy lifestyle. They had talked about this as well – the fact that they were in the same building for eight hours a day, and they decided not to bother each other. Likeness had found likeness, and their individualistic personalities wouldn't allow them to cling on one another.

"Thanks," she replied. Rae had an extremely strict air about her in school: Clothes a little crisper, stood a little straighter, ponytail tied higher, and her replies mostly came in curt words and exclamations. She could probably fill in the part of being an uptight violinist better than Sa-ra ever would. "You're not too bad yourself."

Rae's eyes narrowed. "What does that mean?"

"I think you should try golf; you'll have more breathing time. Some people are too... suave for an opponent-sensitive sport." Sa-ra could picture Rae taking her time to strike the ball and mastering the driver with her unyielding patience that were often mistaken for indifference. It was a matter of deciding whether one cause was worthy getting worked up over, not just plain aloofness and arrogance.

Rae nodded. "Maybe." She tilted her chin to the other end of the court where another doubles game was going on. "That one, though, I wouldn't go up against."

Turning to look, Sa-ra couldn't stop the sharp laugh from bursting. "Why am I not surprised?" It appeared that the school bully did know how to deplete his aggression in a healthier way. Though she didn't think the racket was going to survive much longer with how intense the cracking sound was every time he swung at the ball. Sa-ra took the spring water a valet offered with thanks before taking a swig, walking closer to get a better look at the male doubles game. "He's insane."

"So were you," Rae responded in a remarkably straightforward tone.

Sa-ra raised an eyebrow. "That's how I was?" _No way._ No wonder her partner took flight right after they shook hands. The look on Choi Young-do's face could kill. Jo Myung-soo the ever loyal friend was by his side, ducking and covering his head whenever necessary.

"Close. _Really_ close." Rae looked at her. "You'd be a good match. Trouble in paradise?"

She shook her head. "Just exam week. I've never attended an academy and I'm trying not to." _Not u_ _ntil I need to take care of my college applications._ "Still engaged?"

Rae sighed. "You know I am." Sa-ra had been flattered to be one of the first (and maybe only) people Rae bothered to give a call on the news instead of finding out through the tabloids some years later because the event was made hush hush for some reason, even in the private circle. Rae was hardly an easy person to befriend unless she reciprocated the intention. The engagement would bag a great business deal for both parties, especially when their respective fathers were plucked from a list of top conglomerates in Korea. "It wasn't a big news here, so don't say anything."

"Understood." Sa-ra turned to fully face Rae. "Say, how well do you know Choi Young-do?"

A calculating look passed through her face, but the answer came quickly. "Textbook information. Hotelier family, bully that doesn't pick on girls, somewhere at the bottom of the class ranking but surprisingly good at scheming."

Sa-ra knew of all that. "Okay… how about this – if I ask him to do something, do you think there's a chance he would comply?"

Rae gave a quiet snort. "Not if you're not my fiancé." She sharply examined Sa-ra. "Don't make a deal with the devil, Sa-ra. You _fraternizing_ with a social welfare student is enough drama for your reputation here." _A big bite._

"You heard about that?"

"You might want to reconsider your choice of 'friends', one of them blabbered on and on about what a disappointment your choice is." _An even bigger bite._ It summed up their dynamic pretty well: sharp language was an effective grounding force. The thunderous expression on Rae's face said otherwise – she was genuinely displeased with the rumor.

Sa-ra smirked to cover the seething anger at being… well, maybe she should have expected the betrayal. She just didn't expect it to come so soon. "Well, you said you don't have _school friends_ , so I thought I get to choose here. And I deal with my own snitches, so don't get involved."

"Fine. A hint: it's not the spoiled baby." The rhythmic tapping of Rae's shoes left gradually.

She thought so. A smile appeared on her face when she realized what Rae called Bo-na. If the shoe fits…

Sa-ra made a U-turn and approached a boy wearing all-white. She firmly stood by the first impression – he really looked like one of them so long as he didn't start smiling a megawatt pearls. She let out a short, half-suppressed laugh when he did the moment he caught her looking. "Yoon Chan-young, time to shower if you want to be done before dinner," she called out, pointing at the _Cartier_ tank adorning her left wrist.

* * *

Tuesday, first after-school tutor session. Sa-ra had surprised him with her friendly demeanor, a breath of fresh air was the melodramatic term for it. Whether she was being truthful or playing a game, he couldn't tell, but he was in no place to deny the request. Counselor Nam made that pretty clear. Actually, the whole school staff and student body made that crystal clear. It was a public secret where 'you shan't deny the higher tier or else'. That was why Yoon Chan-young had to make _his_ worth clear.

He and Sa-ra had traded timetables, and agreed that it was better to make time outside of school since the breaks were usually filled with eating and talking and reading. Sa-ra told him she was very strict about her eating schedule and he wouldn't judge her on that. He couldn't. Teaching was like his full-time job back in public school, and Chan-young was continuously grateful to his dad that he had the option to do something fulfilling for him instead of offering cheap, underrated labor in a café somewhere.

But this was different, Jeguk High was the furthest away from public school in the high school spectrum. It might as well have been a different galaxy and he was desperately at loss on how to acquire a map. He knew close to nothing of who Kwon Sa-ra might be. His distress led to a discouraging online search on the Kwon family; the name's power was synonymous to that of its conglomerate counterparties: Financial services, real estate, media, and more unspecified. In short, crazy loaded.

Googling 'Kwon Sa-ra' gave him pictures of violin recitals from the past eight years of her life. She was quite a star in the classical music world. Her public life was as well-documented as it was closely guarded. To compensate his nervousness, he came up with the story that Kwon Sa-ra was an odd ball in a family of banking and media tycoons. But she also left Saerang School of Performing Arts (which was built in her honor) to attend a business-fluency-oriented school. That particular deviation left him curious and wary; if there ever was a sign for unpredictability, it would come on top.

Basically, his anxiety level was shooting for the stars.

"Your notes are good. That's one problem down," Chan-young commented, proud of his ability to stay calm, ostensibly. Her writing was mood-dependent but never illegible. Topics and subtopics were in different colors, formulas were in boxes, and she kept tracks with the syllabus. He foresaw an easy student to teach.

Sa-ra's raised eyebrows were the universal body language for _obviously._

"So, you told me you need help with Physics most. Anything else?" he asked, flipping through his own notes and comparing the details between the two. As long as he didn't have to stare at her perfect pearly whites or the nice-smelling hair. She smelled _really_ nice, by the way.

"I need pointers in Bio and Chem. I've never had to take science seriously," she admitted bluntly. "Do you know that I was a performing arts student?"

His face heated up. "Uh… Y-yes. I kind of searched online…"

"Good. It'd be stupid if you don't." There was satisfaction in her voice.

His looked up sharply. He didn't know how to respond. He decided against thanking her – that would make the situation even more awkward. Chan-young nodded to himself. _I can do this. Man up, and get on to it._ He handed her the physics textbook. "I've folded all the important exercise, do that first." He pulled out another one. "And try reading through this for harder examples when you're studying by yourself."

The question was clear on her face. "You don't need this?" She waved the blue book in front of his face.

"No, I've covered midterm materials." He was always ahead with his studies, that was the only way to stay on top. He heard something like ' _of course'_ vaguely mumbled. "Just give it back when you're done."

Chan-young balked inwardly. Was that something he was allowed to say?

"Okay. Thanks." She flipped to the first folded page and pulled out a blank notebook. "I'll start now." She smacked his shoulder with her notebook lightly. "Relax, buddy. I'm the student here."

And that was exactly how they spent the next two and a half hours. Yoon Chan-young reading through his geography notes and Kwon Sa-ra focusing on Physics, sometimes poking him on the forearm to ask questions. He would then guide her through the problems she didn't understand, and his tense shoulders eased with time. Chan-young decided Kwon Sa-ra wasn't so bad for an heiress.

* * *

"What are you doing? Go right!" Anybody close enough to Park Jung-soo would know that he could get really sensitive. For example, he swiped at Sa-ra's head when she still took a left and got shot to death. "Kwon Sa-ra!" He screamed when a big red 'Game Over' flashed on the left desktop.

Sa-ra threw her controller to the side and reclined her sofa. Jung-soo's furious mumbling could still be heard through the headphone. Imagine what his scream sounded like. He looked ready to cry. Her seat was where Jeremy would usually sit. Jung-soo didn't dare to come close to it ever since her brother threatened him. The Lim gaming room was smaller than her bedroom, but it was Jeremy's place to kick back and spend a few hours leveling up. It had four sets of gaming setups from the days he would invite his school friends to play after school.

Instead of going out, Jung-soo invited himself over to the Lim residence to lecture Sa-ra in person. "I don't understand why you want to help that kid." Jung-soo was considered a new money in her society, an infant if there was one since his father came to a huge amount of fortune less than a decade ago, but he had had enough to go to a great private school and even managed to befriend a few old-moneyed people since adolescence. So she knew he didn't mind the variety of friends, and that his concern came from the tarnishing of her reputation if this went wrong. He just couldn't understand why she would go such length for a complete stranger who was smart and happened to be cute. "How good was he at teaching?"

"Very. He'd probably been teaching people for a long time, he's very patient with me."

"He had no choice but to be patient."

"Yeesh, you know what I mean." She kneaded her forehead. Jung-soo's form of destressing gave her anxiety. Watching her back from oncoming danger wasn't kind to her heart.

"Aside from the tutoring, what do you get from it, anyway?"

"Apparently, finding a snitch."

"Really? That's stupid." On the part of whoever snitched. She knew how to own a school not just literally but systematically; befriending the right people to have her back, teasing the right people to keep up appearances, and most importantly, dating the right boys to keep them from crossing her decisions.

Sa-ra smiled. "I know. I'm sure she'll learn." Either the hard way or the easy way, sooner or later. "I asked around the bully's 'dirty laundry'."

"What are you waiting for?" He waved his hand in a 'start, peasant' way. "Dish." If Sa-ra could work on a Sudoku whilst listening to an audiobook, Jung-soo could gossip and keep his character alive at the same time. It was a talent because a conversation could set her off her task. Like eating.

"His mom left the family two years ago, no divorce no nothing, and his dad developed a womanizer reputation ever since." Having side-lovers was the oldest news in their society – though still being sneered at by the ladies, it wasn't anything surprising. They were paired off as kids, before even understanding what 'being together' meant. There were bound to be glance-sneaking and attention-seeking. But if what people said was true about Choi Dong-wook being head-over-heels with his wife, then it must've caused a huge altercation in the household. It wasn't like Sa-ra's parents when they divorced, where the whole shebang happened very transitively and it didn't leave her with a bitter taste in her mouth. Sa-ra was just unhappy to not be the only child on her mother's side anymore, and Jeremy's attitude definitely didn't help.

"He probably cheated, or got handsy, or the money. It happens." Jung-soo shrugged.

She wouldn't assume that far because she had no idea what Choi Young-do was like other than him suffering from a huge inferiority complex. Honestly, it must be serious if he couldn't differentiate between advantageous friends and unimportant acquaintances. He seemed to reject just about everyone that came his way, even so far as to demean other boys in his own tier. He acted more like a _nouveau riche_ than Jung-soo ever did, it was pretty embarrassing.

"Also, he used to be the best of friends with the younger son of Jeguk group and the bullying was actually _their_ thing, but then they just... stopped. The Jeguk son went to America and that's the end of it." Just imagining having to see not one but _two_ Choi Young-do in school gave her an imaginary headache. Being the child of the school owner had its perks, like having the teachers turning a blind eye whenever she misbehaved, but even she didn't go that far as to openly humiliate others.

"Wow, _daebak._ He really can't keep a relationship."

"I sound like a stalker."

"You are."

"But for a good cause."

Jung-soo snorted. "You'll probably start sympathizing if you spend any more time with that. Don't try to change him, Princess."

She rolled her eyes. "It's every girl's dream to tame a bad boy," she sang. He made a gagging motion. "Oh look, I've adopted Yoon Chan-young for my case." She ducked when Jung-soo swiped at her head again. "I really need that tutor, though."

To be frank, she didn't know what she was doing, either. Her attempt was equal to buying tickets to a lottery: if she won, she won her case, if she didn't, there wasn't anything to lose. Reputation was a fickle thing; she could always work it to her favor. Especially when she had a Yoo Rae as an unofficial colleague. Park Jung-soo would always be there too, with his glorious collection of watches to keep her occupied because God knows Sa-ra was the real organizer of them watches.

"By the way, what do you want for your birthday?" She asked.

* * *

 **I originally thought of letting Sa-ra take Chan-young out for dinner as a 'payment', but poor Chan-young would probably think she's kidnapping him with her security details. I'll save that for later. By the way, are these chapters interesting so far? I always play with my cards close to my chest when I'm writing, and I don't have a beta to tell me what they think.**

 **Thank you for your reviews:**

 **Booklovinggirl123**


	5. After-Exam

**A short one, a stepping-stone. Hope you enjoy it anyway...**

* * *

In the weeks she spent in Jeguk High School, it never failed to educate her on something she didn't know before. On a Tuesday after exams were finished, she learned of a tally that had been going on since middle school. Today, another record was made: The shortest time it took for a social welfare student to 'be dismissed'. Gong Gi-nam of class 1-C who warmed 'the seat' in the cafeteria for the past four weeks was turned away for not being able to fulfill the grade quota. Though it didn't seem like it was anybody's doing, the hearsay was that Choi Young-do and his goons took a lot of his study time.

As if that wasn't enough, their idea of a last farewell was to steal all his unsent love letters, take a picture of them, and share them via SNS. Sa-ra was a member (albeit a silent one) of the 'it' group in SNS purely because of her affiliation with Lee Bo-na and Kang Ye-sol. She had to give it to Kang Ye-sol that if there was anything she was good at; it was getting people to band together – for better or for worse. Ye-sol was one ambitious girl, leading the 'it' group without even looking like she was pulling the strings. Sa-ra thought she might turn into the female embodiment of Choi Young-do for the social welfare girls.

It was embarrassing that the first mention of her name in the group chat was through those letters, as if the world didn't want her to hide and forcefully shed extra light on her so that she would be seen. Her mom once said that a fortune teller told her that her baby would shine because she was a princess. It was the reason she was named Sa-ra, with her English name Sarah, as in _Princess_. And a princess she became overnight, because today everybody seemed to notice her more than interested glances and admiration; they were _scrutinizing_ her worth. Gong Gi-nam worth as much as dirt to them and yet his letters made them look over and thought, _'Is Kwon Sa-ra really that great?'_ Even Jeremy gave her a look during breakfast. It was just the two of them, and she knew when he waved his phone with a disapproving look directed at her. Yet he couldn't say anything, because how could it be her fault that a classmate had a crush on her?

She found the full version of those letters slipped into her locker, a thin blue notebook full of his personal thoughts. If Gi-nam brought his journal to school where he was bullied, he was an idiot to do so, but if it was taken from his house, she didn't even want to imagine how it came to be.

She noticed the crumpled cover and wondered if it was wrenched out of Gi-nam's fingers – him begging his bullies to not take it. What he wrote made her want to reply with a thank you note, for simply being a fan of her work, and for questioning her supposed 'hiatus' from the music world. Flattery and nice words had long since lost its effects on her – she had been barraged by compliments for as long as she could remember, all for the money she didn't lift a finger for. But they did suddenly come to life when given from strangers, online, on her recitals. 'Good job' suddenly didn't sound like something her caretakers would routinely say; it was earned by the hours she spent every day hurting her fingers. But her hiatus… she wasn't sure if it would ever end, either.

" _Annyeong_ ," Bo-na's exclamation made her jump and hastily shoved the notebook in her bag. Bo-na looped her hand through hers.

She returned the greetings and asked, "What do you think I should do with Gong Gi-nam?" Kwon Sa-ra and Lee Bo-na were two sides of the same coin, both idealistic and self-centered, girls who knew their worth in the world and most importantly, to their parents. But where Bo-na saw things two dimensionally, Sa-ra as an artist was incapable to see the world in black and white; people weren't good or bad, instead they were loyal, or cowardly, or lonely, and the categories went on and on like so. Where Sa-ra lacked conviction in making decisions involving social courtesies, Bo-na was blind to factors that didn't include her; hence able to make a straightforward yes or no without a care for other people's feelings.

"Ignore him, it'll blow in a bit."

* * *

Chan-young did it. Sa-ra felt like a proud mother, smiling, pleased to see his name on the first slot. He fulfilled the first part of their deal – she would wait to get hers in action. She hadn't spotted Choi Young-do on the ranking so far, but since it was nowhere near the top it was safe to say she had a good argument. "I told you he's good," she told Bo-na who was still clinging onto her hand.

Bo-na gave a noncommittal hum, though Sa-ra detected a smile coming through. Even Lee Bo-na couldn't deny that Yoon Chan-young was one handsome boy, and to be both handsome and smart was a lottery.

 _If only he was also of money._

"Where are you?" Sa-ra asked one of their new lunch group boys, recruited by Ye-sol. Shin Hyun-tae was enlisted last week, a ridiculously lanky boy who managed to dwarf Sa-ra. And to think that she was considered above average with her height. He happened to be a son to Shinil Construction's chairman, one of the biggest names in the construction business since three decades ago. He refused to do anything remotely aggressive outside of his basketball extracurricular, namely the social welfare bullying – She was sure Choi Young-do would gladly invite him into the fold for having an intimidating structure

"Thirty-six, you? Oh wait, I saw your name already." His eyes went back to the top. He had to awkwardly bend forward to scan the names, and it was really cute in her ever humble opinion.

"I'm scanning from the top." There, she found her name. "Twenty-five…." Her eyebrows shot up. She thought she did okay but certainly not _that_ okay. Her prediction was to be at the thirty-to-forty range. Twenty-five was beyond her expectations.

"Good job," Hyun-tae praised, his hand patting Sa-ra's shoulder. His eyes continued to scan to the bottom. " _Ya_ , is he for real? Look at the hundredth." He snickered. The noise he made was contradictory to his physical presence - not delicate, but not boisterous either. Hyun-tae was just right.

She did, and for goodness sake, "Jo Myung-soo, didn't you study?"

Myung-soo's response was a sheepish grin, followed by a peace sign and a wink. It didn't take intelligence to be in the 'it' group, then. She found Choi Young-do at eighty-three. "Bo-na, where are you?" Hyun-tae asked, diverting the spotlight to someone else.

Bo-na's face turned bright pink at the question. Without a word, she swiveled around, almost pulling Sa-ra with her, and marched away. Sa-ra and Hyun-tae looked at the board again. She found Lee Bo-na at seventy-two and Gong Gi-nam right above that.

"Lee Bo-na, don't run," Hyun-tae called out.

"Let her be," Sa-ra patted him on the back. "She studied for this." And still ended up at the bottom half. She understood why it would be upsetting. She felt her phone vibrating in her blazer pocket, "Huh?"

 _Mom._

"Hello?"

 _"We have to do something to celebrate."_

Sa-ra smirked. "Is this a congratulation from mommy?"

She heard a light laugh. _"It's a congratulation from a proud mommy after attending the first parent-teacher meeting."_ Oh, right, that was today. _"Good job,Sarah,"_ she finished in English.

"Thanks, how about a spa?"

* * *

 **Thank you for your review:**

 **Booklovinggirl123**


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